Woodbridge, VA. What's the deal? (Arlington, Alexandria: houses, neighborhood, contractor)

[The Dissenter]

Two words: I-95 traffic.

[Muffy62]

We live in LakeRidge too. It has been a wonderful area to raise our kids (who have left the nest!). We will be looking to move closer to our kids once hubby retires in 4 years. We are getting old and the upkeep required for our house is getting to be too much. We are looking to downsize! Don't need 3 1/2 bathrooms when there is only 2 of us 50 out of 52 weeks

[persnicketygal]

The Woodbridge area is also one of the few places still with enough undeveloped land for builders to build. Up higher off 95S, just look off to the right side to see how many trees have been cleared for SF homes, and one development that went up within the past couple years was built very quickly. So maybe the area has become oversaturated.

[jb124]

Woodbridge was especially hard hit by the housing bust a few years back. Plenty of good bargains to be had now. If you are willing to VRE or slug, it's not all that terrible of a commute.

[johnsonkk]

Originally Posted by jb124

Woodbridge was especially hard hit by the housing bust a few years back. Plenty of good bargains to be had now. If you are willing to VRE or slug, it's not all that terrible of a commute.

Housing prices are recovering as they are everywhere. $500k homes dipped to $275k and are now around $350k-375k.

These are sweeping generalizations but hopefully gives a ballpark idea to those skimming this thread.

[leighland]

Originally Posted by justtitans

It seems as though people throw that out there even in cases like the brawl that happened in Potomac Mills a few weeks ago, like teenagers don't act like that in some of the nicest parts of our country. Some people live in a bubble.

I was at Potomac Mills that day with my family. Had a snack in the Food Court too. I never heard or saw a thing and we all burst out laughing when the news reported the brawl.

I will say I feel like I fit in in Woodbridge--its real middle class unlike the 6 figures salary/own a 600k home in most of Nova. Plus it seems really multiethnic/more blue collar/none of that I have 3 masters degrees with my jd crap.

We have no commute patience combined with homes in Woodbridge are still pretty expensive compared with most of the country (Can't afford it).

[jillybean720]

Originally Posted by jb124

Woodbridge was especially hard hit by the housing bust a few years back. Plenty of good bargains to be had now. If you are willing to VRE or slug, it's not all that terrible of a commute.

Agree. Woodbridge is not recovering as quickly as Fairfax, Loudoun, etc. We bought our Lake Ridge townhome when the prices were coming down from the top of the bubble, so we didn't purchase at the peak, and now, more than six years later, we're still significantly underwater and stuck. We rent it out, but the rent doesn't cover the mortgage + escrow, so we take a monthly loss. That said, I'm not sure about "bargains" to be had since most who are underwater are probably holding off on selling, but Prince William is generally less expensive than Fairfax or Loudoun anyway.

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by jillybean720

Agree. Woodbridge is not recovering as quickly as Fairfax, Loudoun, etc. We bought our Lake Ridge townhome when the prices were coming down from the top of the bubble, so we didn't purchase at the peak, and now, more than six years later, we're still significantly underwater and stuck. We rent it out, but the rent doesn't cover the mortgage + escrow, so we take a monthly loss. That said, I'm not sure about "bargains" to be had since most who are underwater are probably holding off on selling, but Prince William is generally less expensive than Fairfax or Loudoun anyway.

I think Prince William County was hurt by last year's furloughs and sequestration. Prior to both of those events, there were properties in Lake Ridge that would be under contract in less than a week. In the past few months those sales have slowed. Even during the late summer/early fall you could see a dramatic difference.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by jillybean720

Agree. Woodbridge is not recovering as quickly as Fairfax, Loudoun, etc. We bought our Lake Ridge townhome when the prices were coming down from the top of the bubble, so we didn't purchase at the peak, and now, more than six years later, we're still significantly underwater and stuck. We rent it out, but the rent doesn't cover the mortgage + escrow, so we take a monthly loss. That said, I'm not sure about "bargains" to be had since most who are underwater are probably holding off on selling, but Prince William is generally less expensive than Fairfax or Loudoun anyway.

I've never been underwater in my mortgage because I purchased my home in the 1990s, but I've actually been very surprised at how well we are recovering. The top value of my home was $525,000 in 2005 and the exact models are now selling for about $450,000. That's pretty good because we got as low as $300,000.

There's definitely no bargains anymore as a lot of the foreclosure inventory has moved out. About 3 years ago, there were some very good deals.

[NOVA_guy]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

I've never been underwater in my mortgage because I purchased my home in the 1990s, but I've actually been very surprised at how well we are recovering. The top value of my home was $525,000 in 2005 and the exact models are now selling for about $450,000. That's pretty good because we got as low as $300,000.

I believe it. I'm in the process now of moving further north to be closer to my job and prices have gone up substantially even within the last couple weeks. In PWC some homes that have been on the market for less than a day already have 2 and 3 offers on them.

The market in Stafford at the moment seems kind of stagnant even though prices are starting to slowly go up here as well.